THIS TIME WAS DIFFERENT:

The street corner where George Floyd was killed, in front of a convenience store on an otherwise unremarkable stretch in South Minneapolis, is not static. More than 2½ years after the murder that set off global demonstrations and sparked police reforms across the country, George Floyd Square has become a hub for events. There are concerts, cookouts, rallies, poetry slams, prayer vigils, block parties, and twice-daily community meetings. There's a greenhouse, a book donation area, free food distribution, and public art.

Someone had placed a piano under the protected area alongside the long-dry gas pumps at the Speedway. It's festively adorned with plastic flowers. Floyd came from a musical family; he rapped, and his aunt described Floyd's father as a "musical genius."

The gas station may have been a site of rage in the tense weeks following the murder, but now it's a peaceful gathering place where the music and voices of the neighborhood can be heard. The site of the gas station has been renamed Peoples' Way.

But the most prevalent feature at George Floyd Square are the thousands of visitors who come from across the globe to see where Floyd struggled to draw his final breaths. This curb is more than a shrine. People leave art, flowers, letters, and stuffed animals.

"This is a sacred space," one sign reads, and visitors respect it. They quietly walk through the maze of offerings. Many visitors say the experience is spiritual.

"I felt something," said Dwayne White, who was visiting from Atlanta. "I can't really describe it. We were all in lockdown because of COVID, and then so we saw him on the news over and over. To be at the place where it happened . . . I just don't know, it's a reminder of that time."

Tweet   @brothersjudd